THE family of a robbery suspect who died in hospital after his arrest is demanding answers from the Fiji Police Force, which has found itself at the centre of brutality allegations. Vilikesa Ratu Soko, manager of the Saioni Rugby Club, was among suspects taken in by police last weekend in connection with the $50,000 daylight robbery at the City Forex Nadi branch.Police said the 30-year-old father of three died at 7.30pm on Wednesday at the Lautoka Hospital's intensive care unit.His grieving family is not convinced by police claims he was not beaten.Commissioner of Police Ben Groenewald said the deceased was known to be sickly, had refused to take medication during his stay at the hospital and had internal bleeding.His father, Jeremaia Soko, said his son was not sickly but had visible injuries to his body."This is the greatest tragedy of my life," a tearful Mr Soko said outside the mortuary yesterday.He said it was after 9pm on Sunday when he received a phone call from the brother of another suspect who was hospitalised."I came down on Tuesday to see him. I still had hope. He is my fourth son, named after my father and we were close. My wife is a stroke patient and I had to leave her behind to tend to our son. He was only 30 and this is shocking."Relatives of the deceased gathered at the hospital with his wife. Their daughters, aged seven, five and three, remained in Suva."We don't know what to tell his children, they have been asking for him. They are all girls and were close their father. He was in Lautoka to look for work," he added.A statement from police confirmed the death and said a senior officer had been tasked by the Police Commissioner to investigate the matter.A relative said they relied on the sympathy of medical staff to visit Vilikesa earlier in the week, claiming police barred visitations to the suspects in hospital.Relatives said injuries included major swelling and bruises to the body and eyes.They claimed that despite being on life support and drifting in and out of consciousness, Vilikesa was handcuffed to his bedside table. Source: Fiji Times, 22 August 2014

Remember REAR ADMIRAL Bainimarama's previous words: “At the end of the day, I will stick by my men, by the police officers or anyone else that might be named in this investigation. We cannot discard them just because they’ve done their duty in looking after the security of this nation and making sure we sleep peacefully at night.”

AUSTRALIA campaign tour: Rear Admiral Bainimarama exits through back door with pro-democracy protestors shut out of his 'talanoa' meet

Deserved it fully. Imagine if he entered your house, put a knife on your neck and raped your mother, wife or daughter in front of you? You wouldn't be criticizing the police brutality then!

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Josh

24/8/2014 01:39:43 pm

Hanif are you really that thick?

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CIA Operative

22/8/2014 03:13:14 pm

Its easy for you, hanif, to be making these comments from Dallas, Texas!

Sooner or later the victims families and their supporters will rise up against the police force

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Hanif

22/8/2014 03:40:20 pm

What's that got to do with my location? Truth is truth. Vilikesa Ratu Soko deserved this brutal and fatal treatment as he was trying to ruin the life and earning of someone else. Fully deserved and well done, Fiji police!

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PissedOff

22/8/2014 08:32:19 pm

Stop speculating Hanif - Soko was just a 'suspect' up till now.

SOKO is now another MARTYR - another victim of a repressive regime - of brutality and SHAME.

Soko - as his father says - was in Lautoka 'looking for work'. Unemployed and Desperate. Crimes are just symptoms and results of UNEMPLOYMENT which THIS regime has robbed our youths of -But nontheless, SOKO did not deserve DEATH for trying to feed his family. NO!

Soko's story is heart-breaking and we feel for the faimily. Soko in our minds and hearts would always be a HERO - It is this repressive Baini-Khaiyum REGIME who are the culprits and the cause of Soko's DEATH - Let us not forget that.

barns

24/8/2014 03:14:03 pm

people not supposed to be treated like animals....

meiron ibrahim

14/2/2015 07:10:12 am

Don't you worry baiya..you and all who think as sick and crooked as you will get yours!!!

Afro-American

22/8/2014 04:06:35 pm

So Hanif, you saying our black teenager also deserved to be killed:

Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, erupted after Michael Brown, who was black, was shot six times and killed by Darren Wilson, a white policeman, on August 9th

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Mohammed

22/8/2014 08:51:26 pm

The deceased was a suspect. That does not give the right to the police to sexually violated anybody to death and claim that he was a robbery suspect. That's insane...if the victim was Hindi, muslim or Christian, black or white, Asians or Fijians it makes no difference. The police actions was inhumanely barbaric, heartless and sickening...for those who condoned and applaud such actions are as low life of a scum bags just like those cowards police...

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Sad-VerySad.

22/8/2014 08:52:22 pm

Dear Editor FijiLeaks

We would very much appreciate if you may put the aggrieved family in touch with:
Mr. Juan E. Méndez - The United Nations - ‘Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
He was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur in 2010 and who is an active and concerned individual on matters TORTURE – and specially DEATH by TORTURE.
More Information on:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/SRTortureIndex.aspx
Contact email: sr-torture@ohchr.org

It is now one too many – of these atrocities from the law enforcement of an Illegal Regime. So many Deaths – some murderers are even contesting elections – eg. Murderer KEAN.

So many of our rights have been trampled upon since 2006 and where is Vilikesa Soko’s rights to a ‘Fair-Trail ?? – Rights to be presumed innocent until proven guilty?? And most importantly who gives the POLICE rights to TORTURE ??

And also Rights to our 1997 Constitution – which would have protected our Human Rights – and guaranteed that instances like Soko’s would not have happened.

Just you SEE that under the Pretender 2013 Constitution – NOTHING will happen to the perpetrators of this MURDER. Just you See NOTHING will happen to these MURDERERS.

The 2013 Constitution is a FAKE Constitution which does NOT protect our HUMAN RIGHTS – Otherwise SOKO would NOT be DEAD - The 2013 Constitution gives Police impunity to Brutality and TORTURE and MURDER.

The New PolCom is just a ‘boot-licker’.

WHO exactly are we going to VOTE for?? THINK!!

Sincere Condolences to the Soko Family.

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mama

23/8/2014 02:03:23 am

At the end of the day, I will stick by my men, by the police officers or anyone else that might be named in this investigation. We cannot discard them just because they’ve done their duty in looking after the security of this nation and making sure we sleep peacefully at night

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tualeita

23/8/2014 02:09:34 am

@ Hanif.

You certainly have a demented mind.

Soko was brutalized while, in police custody, in handcuffs, and he died as a result of police brutality without a court of law proving him to be guilty of any allegations against him. So he died an innocent person.

Even in any court the theft of any amount of money does not deserve the death penalty, be it in billions or trillions of dollars. Only murder deserves capital punishment and those who exacted this criminal offence on Soko, have murdered him, hence, deserving the "rai ki beqa" sentence.

Since his takeover Fiji has been, is and will remain under thug rule with no real respect for the rule of law and due process.
And, you will have the Hanifs and Janifs and Jatus and some Ratus justifying the thug rule.

The Fiji Times has made an editorial comment on this case of suspected police brutality. There is of course good grounds to suspect that given the transgressions that have happened under Bainimarama's "government" and exposed to the public by FijiLeaks.
Has the Fiji Sun - the Bainimarama propaganda paper - made any editorial comment on this?

no special intelligence is needed to know that the expatriate South African Commissioner of Police Ben Goenwald has taken up the appointment because it's a working holiday for him. After South Africa Fiji must be a tropical island picnic for him. Let's not forget he had retired from active service in South Africa. The man will only go through the motions for show. He has been brought in by the illegal Bainimarama regime and his allegance is to the regime - not the people of Fiji.

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tualeita

23/8/2014 12:00:12 pm

No @ "scoundrels in the media", the Fiji Sun has not opinion on police brutality and this propaganda paper even advocates it.

The brutally killed man's father can CRY for JUSTICE but he will not get it. That is not possible in the thug rule dictatorship Fiji has at the present time. How many other fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and children are still crying for justice for their brutally killed loved ones since the military takeover and the turning of Fiji into a Police State?

notwithstanding the brutally of the Fijian dictatorship and its flagrant disregard for human rights and democratic rights a good crowd gathered in Sydney to put lipstick on Fiji's prime pig the dictator Frank Bainimarama.
these hypocrites themselves live in freedom enjoying all the rights of democracy in Australia but support the dictatorship in Fiji. what a shameless lot.

Journalist Gemeima Garret was barred by the dictator from covering his Sydney event.
He barked at her " I am the one who makes the decision here"*. He has not shed his military barking ways despite all the pretense of being a civilian democratic leader. Of course he is the one together with his political sidekick Khaiyum who have been making all the decisions in Fiji since the military takeover. That has not changed. And it is my prediction that it will not after the so called democratic elections, which is really a fraud on the nation.
(* source : 'Listen to Bainimarama's first trip to Australia since 2006'
omnyapp.com/shows/...bainimarama's-first-trip-to-australia-since-2006)

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Jane

19/3/2016 08:36:24 pm

I was just wonerding who instituted the proceedings against the police?

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